"There are vast career opportunities, money and political power to be gleaned from the specter of Mr. Zimmerman as a racial profiler/murderer; but there is only hard and selfless work to be done in tackling an illegitimacy rate that threatens to consign blacks to something like permanent inferiority. If there is anything good to be drawn from the Zimmerman/Martin tragedy, it is only the further revelation of the corruption and irrelevance of today's civil-rights leadership."

I have not posted much, if at all, on this incident because others have done so more competently than I could. But watching the reaction of some people over the verdict, I find myself at a loss to understand how people think that the verdict was an "injustice", and I wonder if they followed the trial testimony at all. Typical of the is that of Molly Rose. of Palo Alto, CA published in the Opinion section of the San Jose Mercury News:

What if the races were reversed in incident?

Regarding the George Zimmerman trial and a juror statement that race did not play a role. Hogwash.

If the races were reversed, if a black man shot a white teenager because he thought he looked threatening, what do you think the verdict would have been?

Molly Rose

Palo Alto

I think that, yes indeed, if the races were reversed, but all other circumstances were the same, that a black man would be acquitted similarly as George Zimmerman. Molly Rose is incorrect in her view of the crime. Zimmerman did not shoot Martin because he looked suspicious, but because Martin attacked Zimmerman. Facts established at the trial indicate that this is the most likely interpretation of the evidence.

I
find it incomprehensible that people think that Zimmerman stalked and
shot Martin, presumably because Martin was Black, but the same people
choose to ignore evidence (testimony and forensic evidence) that
Martin was shot because Martin, at some point in the encounter,
became an assailant.

A
man is dead, which only happens when mistakes are made. And I believe
that people in this incident made mistakes. Should Zimmerman
have followed Martin? Probably not. Should Zimmerman have
engaged Martin in conversation? Probably not. Both actions were
unwise, but they were not illegal. But
why in Hell did Martin attack Zimmerman, as evidence shows he did,
instead of telling Zimmerman to go F**k himself and then walk away?
Zimmerman is not a cop and cannot order a citizen minding his
own business to do anything. Why did Martin not blow Zimmerman
off?So,
mistakes were made, and now a man is dead. But those calling
for "justice" are wrong headed. There was a trial,
despite lack of evidence, and a jury rendered the verdict. That
is justice. Calling for "Justice for Trayvon" when
you don't like the verdict is not a call for justice, but for
state-sponsored vigilantism.

About Me

I am an Electrical Engineering graduate that has worked as a software engineer in the telecommunications industry and as a test engineer in the mass storage industry.
I have always has an interest in environmental issues, but am dismayed at the utter lack of scientific or technical knowledge expressed by many people involved in environmental causes. This blog is an attempt to address the deficiency.